In the fluidized bed furnace at Rönnskärsverken, Skelleftehamn, sulphur-containing ore concentrates are roasted in order to remove about 50% of the sulphur in the incoming ore concentrate. This occurs in order to reach the goal of a matte containing 55% of copper in the following smelting process. At the same time as the ore concentrate is partially roasted pollutions as arsenic, antimony and bismuth are expelled. Earlier made thermodynamic calculations of equilibrium suggested that calcium and magnesium form stable compounds with arsenic and thereby inhibit expellation of arsenic in the fluidized bed furnace, an element that is undesired. The purpose of this thesis work was to gain knowledge of the mechanisms behind the formation of these stable arsenic compounds.

Today, there are no regulations saying that cows must have access to some kind of shelter at pasture during the summer. In more tropical countries, it is well-known that dairy cows might suffer from heat stress when exposed to sun and high temperatures. The well-being of the cows is thereby reduced and the production may also decrease. In Sweden, no research has been done in the area and therefore it is now a clear need of improved knowledge.The purpose of this study was to investigate the importance of shade for dairy cows in Sweden. The behaviour of 30 cows was examined to see any differences between cows with access to shade and cows without access to shade.

To produce fine fibre wool as a complement to lamb meat production, Merino and Svea sheep are currently being crossbred in the county of Jämtland. The aim of this study was to evaluate growth and wool quality of the first crossbred lambs. In addition, a literature study about nutritional effects on wool production has been carried out. The literature study showed that fine fibre wool should foremost be achieved through directed breeding. Nutritional requirements of the sheep at different stages of production should determine their feeding.

Product development is a risky business; many products never yield profit, but it is also ne-cessary for a company?s survival in a competitive business where the costumers change their requests constantly. Consumer-led product development is developed from the wish to fill the consumer?s needs and expectations and thereby be more likely to succeed. Lindell?s Gårdsslakteri AB is a local slaughter and meat processor in Västergötland.

This dissertation aims to explore how an investment appraisal differs depending on if it is conducted by a municipal or a private real estate company. Municipal and private real estate companies are not performing on totally equal terms in the property market. A municipal company in Sweden has a public service mission. The consequence due to that mission is that they have limited yield potential but on the other hand the right to certain subsidies. They are also limited by the law of public purchasing (in Swedish: Lag om offentlig upphandling) in the investment process.

The trend towards increasingly large farming units raises questions regarding how to better monitor production. Larger units make the impact from possible errors more severe, which increases the pressure on management supervision. To cope with management issues, prevent errors and handle increased demands on traceability and documentation, the Real Time Location Systems (RTLS) concept is making its way into various parts of agriculture. In sectors outside agriculture, RTLS are already being used successfully to track and locate items through nodes at different levels of accuracy, such as room level or the relative or absolute position. Empirical data can be received in real time from the nodes.

Different techniques for precision agriculture have been available during the last decade. Some of them are more widely used than others. The main purpose of this thesis was to investigate the different attitudes to precision agriculture that exists among farmers and advisors in Sweden. Eight advisors and sixteen farmers were asked for their opinion of a number of specific techniques for precision agriculture, such as yield-mapping, precision liming, the Yara Nitrogen Sensor and site-specific fertilization with phosphorous and potassium. They were also asked to describe the way in which the counselling in Swedish agriculture is used and also about it's importance for the adaptation of new techniques. The high costs are mentioned to be one of the most important reasons why precision agriculture hasn't been more widely spread. Several farmers refer to their farms as too small to bear the costs that come with the techniques. The individual interest for technique among the potential users plays an important role.

Bees are of importance for the global food security. In Europe 84% and in the World 35% of all the agricultural crops are dependent of animal pollination (Winfree et al., 2011:1). In agricultural production there is a huge lack of pollinators (Azien & Harden, 2009). A problem that is widely spread. In Sweden the problem becomes clear when looking at the statistics of the number of bee colonies during the last 20 years, where it has been a decline with 63 % (Statistiska Centralbyrån & Jordbruksverket, 2011).

Various Fusarium species causes some of the most common cereal diseases worldwide. Besides the yield losses that can be a result of these diseases, strains from several Fusarium species can produce mycotoxins, some very toxic. The aim of this study was to investigate which Fusarium species and how many that occurred in winter wheat grains from Mälardalen and Kalmar län, if there was any difference in the distribution of Fusarium fungi between the regions and the potential within species to produce mycotoxins belonging to the group trichothecenes. Winter wheat grains collected in 2009 from ten fields (unsprayed plots) in the two regions were analysed for Fusarium species. PCR was used to amplify the TEF region where after the samples were sequenced.

Studies show that some pupils with ASD (autism spectrum disorder) can have difficulties in understanding written texts. The present study seeks to examine whether pupils with ASD differ in their reading comprehension of a factual text and a literary text. Another aim of the study is to obtain a picture of the reading habits of high school pupils with ASD, what reading strategies they use, and how they work with texts in Swedish lessons in school.The study uses texts from PISA surveys from 2009 and 2000. The factual text Varmluftsballongen (The Hot-air Balloon) was taken from the try-out for the 2009 survey and the literary text Gåvan (The Gift) was taken from the 2000 PISA survey. To gain some idea of the pupils? reading comprehension of the texts, the present study used the tasks accompanying the texts, with certain changes in the questions about the text on the hot-air balloon.

Vomb meadows is an area well knows for its rich bird life. During the 19:thcentury until mid 20:th century, the meadows were flooded annually in order toincrease the hay yield. The river Klingavälsån situated along the west side of themeadows, used to be a shallow river, meandering across the landscape. In the1940?s the river was straightened and made deeper.

We have in this essay studied the Swedish Hedge Fund Market available for the average Swedish private investor. We have closely looked at the risk measurements that are applicable on the evaluation of Hedge Funds today, and furthermore studied how they are communicated and what they actually contribute with in terms of risk and yield. Our survey attempts to clarify the shortcomings in the communication between the Hedge Fund Managers and their smaller investors. Do they really know where they put their money? The market is rapidly expanding and our goal was to find improved ways to inform about the Hedge Funds risks and opportunities.

Title: The Investment Savings Account ? Standard Taxation ? Right in TimeAuthors: Gustav Mårtensson and Erica Nordström LöfSupervisor: Göran HäggBackground: In order to facilitate and stimulate financial investments among privateinvestors the organization Aktiespararna made a proposal for a standard-taxed account. As aresult of this, the Swedish government decided to implement the Investment Savings Accountin January of 2012. The introduction of the Investment Savings Account implies that there arenow three different types of accounts for financial investments that are differently taxed onthe Swedish Market. Private investors can improve their after-tax results by combining AssetAllocation and Asset Location, according to earlier studies.

Människans miljö och hälsa blir allt viktigare för individen, vilket medför en medvetenhet i dagens konsumtion. Vi har i vår uppsats valt att studera, via intervjuer och en observation, hur ett litet ekologiskt e-handelsföretag, Mossagården, går tillväga för att sprida det ekologiska budskapet och marknadsföra sig hos kunderna. Utifrån teorier om identitetsskapande, kvalitet, servicemöte, och marknadsföring analyserar vi Mossagårdens agerande och vilka konsekvenserna blir för kunden. Då Mossagården säljer sina produkter via sin hemsida tar vi även upp företagets fördelar och nackdelar med e-handel. Analysen visar att hemsidan har stor betydelse för företaget, därför är det viktigt att kontinuerligt utveckla sidan och dra nytta av de fördelar Internet ger.

A plant's defensive ability against herbivore attack can be influenced by many different factors, one of them being domestication. During human selection to improve the yield of plants, the resistance against herbivore attack can have been lowered, due to a trade-off for use of resources between these traits in the plants. In this thesis I investigated the effect of domestication on resistance against herbivorous insects in cotton plants. I used different varieties and species of wild and domesticated cotton in three different experiments. A feeding assay was conducted, the mortality, development time and pupal weight of larvae of the Egyptian cotton leaf worm Spodoptera littoralis was studied. In a second experiment the preference of the root-feeding beetle Agriotes spp.